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SS3 canceled in Rally Poland due to spectators misbehavior
The second stage SS3 Wieliczki 1 of the Friday morning stages of the 80th ORLEN Rally Poland has now been canceled due to spectators flocking nearby the stage in unsecured areas.
Only four Rally1 cars managed to finish the day’s second special stage before the rally organisers interrupted the stage. Shortly after, an announcement was made that the special stage was cancelled entirely due to spectators were in the wrong places watching the special stage, leaving the organisers with no choice but to cancel the entire stage.
Before the stage got canceled only Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux, and the two Toyota drivers Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta managed to get through the stage to the finish line. The remaining Rally1 cars did not start the stage and will be given so-called notional times later during the day.
Rally Poland returned to the FIA World Rally Championship calendar this season after seven years away. The last time the WRC event was held in Poland was in 2017, after which the rally lost its WRC status and one of the main reasons behind losing its status was because spectators in Poland caused far too many dangerous situations. As for now, it seems that the situation has not changed and even Thursday’s morning shakedown was also close to be canceled for the exact same reason with spectator control.
Top 10 after SS3
| Pos. | Driver / Co-driver | Nat. | Car | Team | Time |
| 1. | Andreas Mikkelsen / Torstein Eriksen | Norway | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | 22:35.7 |
| 2. | Mārtiņš Sesks / Renārs Francis | Latvia | Ford Puma Rally1 | M-Sport Ford WRT | + 2.2 |
| 3. | Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin | United Kingdom | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | + 7.8 |
| 4. | Kalle Rovanperä / Jonne Halttunen | Finland | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | + 7.9 |
| 5. | Adrien Fourmaux / Alexandre Coria | France | Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid | M-Sport Ford WRT | + 8.0 |
| 6. | Grégoire Munster / Louis Louka | Luxembourg / Belgium | Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid | M-Sport Ford WRT | + 12.8 |
| 7. | Thierry Neuville / Martijn Wydaeghe | Belgium | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | + 20.5 |
| 8. | Takamoto Katusta / Aaron Johnston | Japan / Ireland | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | + 21.9 |
| 9. | Sami Pajari / Enni Mälkönen | Finland | Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 | Printsport | + 59.6 |
| 10. | Josh McErlean / James Fulton | Ireland | Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 | Toksport WRT 2 | + 1:03.0 |
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